Dear Mr. Keillor,
I recently watched a documentary on the Civil War, and could
have sworn I heard your voice as one of the narrators depicting
a letter from a Confederate soldier. Was that you?
Matt Bowling
Hopkinsville, KY
I read some stuff for the
Ken Burns documentary for PBS ---- various bits of pathos, letters
written on the night before the big battle, and some Whitman,
I believe ---- did it all in a studio in New York ages ago,
and didn’t much care for the results. I like to look at
old pictures, too, but I don’t need Ken Burns to turn the
pages for me. And his hushed chapel-talk style wears thin rather
quickly. But Shelby Foote, the old Memphis writer, was pretty
magnificent.
Dear Mr. Keillor:
I have been reading a great deal
of John Steinbeck lately, and it occurred to me that his work
reminded me of yours (or yours reminds me of his, as the case
may be). So, I was wondering if you see the similarity yourself?
Christine
I loved Steinbeck’s
work years ago. We read “The Red Pony” in 10th grade,
I believe, and that got me into “Grapes of Wrath,”
which was powerful stuff for a 15-year-old and probably helped
make me a Democrat, and I liked “Cannery Row,” and
then Steinbeck sort of petered out for me. And then when he
won the Nobel Prize, that was something of a debacle. Everyone
knew it was not quite merited. And when he became a cheerleader
for the war in Vietnam and toadied up to LBJ, that took even
more of the shine off him. But I’m sure that his stuff
would be wonderful in the re-reading.
Dear Mr. Keillor,
Do you know when you came up with
your famous line -- That's the news from Lake Wobegon, where
all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the
children are above average?
Mike Hayne
It was so long ago, Mike,
that I can’t recall the circumstances but I’ve often
been grateful for having that line which is so handy ---- last
week, for example, when I went blank on the monologue and cobbled
together a few little pleasantries at the end and tried to remember
what else I’d contemplated and glanced at the clock and
saw that my time was long gone and I just said, “That’s
the news from Lake Wobegon,” etc. and the audience was
greatly relieved. It’s just a way of saying, “Okay,
then. Bye now.”
Mr. Keillor,
Our son, an English major at the University of California, is
finishing a four year degree in only three years because he
claims to have "lucrative career options" waiting.
Mental illness runs in my husband's family--should we be worried?
Julie J.
English majors are in great
demand, especially the bright ones who can write clearly and
persuasively. Obviously your son is one of those. The rest of
us had to thrash around in the underbrush for a good long time
before we found paying jobs.
Dear Mr. Keillor,
Please help settle an argument. I am from Pennsylvania. My wife
is from North Carolina. I lived in Minnesota for a short time,
and I remember there being a state Bureau of Lamb Management.
My wife says there is no such agency.
Bradd Schiffman
Bradd, It’s a Bureau
of Lamp Management. The state tries to remind people to remember
to turn off lamps when they leave a room. Or were you thinking
of the Bureau of Land Management? I have no idea what they do,
if anything. Operate landing craft, I suppose.
Dear Garrison,
I've really enjoyed reading the questions and answers on the
"Post to the Host" link. I particularly enjoy it when
your answers are about your own writing, the difficulties of
writing in general, depression and mood swings, the trickiness
of relationships. I also wanted to add that I'm struck by how
many people miss the aspiring artist Bob. You mention somewhere
that there was a lot of opposition to this story, and yet, at
least on the "PTTH" link, people keep asking for it
to come back. Me too. Would you consider bringing it back?
Ben
Wisconsin
Thanks, Ben. I brought
back Bob the Young Artist on Saturday’s broadcast and intend
to write a new episode for Saturday the 12th and maybe the 19th,
and then we’ll see what happens. I’ve made him a collage
artist, whatever that may be, and he has a bitter rival named
David Sweezo, and they compete for the favor of Mrs. Crumley,
who is the Arts Lady there in Hubbard Falls where Bob and Berniece
and Pops and Rex live.
Dear Garrison,
I'm 18 and have been listening to your program for as long as
I can remember. My family didn't have TV reception until just
2 years ago, so I have always listened to radio shows. I am
about to leave for college (Santa Clara University) and am very
uncertain about my major. How did you choose your college major?
Sincerely,
Maggie Biddle
Maggie, I chose journalism
as a major, because I wanted to be a writer, and then when I
exhausted all the journalism writing courses, I switched to
English, thinking that reading Great Lit would be good for me.
It is good, but then you have to write the term papers and the
essay tests and those only teach you how to fake profundity
on the basis of very little information, which isn’t good
for a writer. Whatever you do, don’t major in radio or
speech-communications. How about history?
Garrison:
A few months ago I was trying
to woo a gal who was originally from Minnesota. When I found
this out a made a witty comment about Lake Wobegon. She kind
of rolled her eyes and ignored the remark. Soon after that she
left the state and I never heard from her again. My question
is, did I make a mistake in mentioning the Lake?
Glenn Higgins
Bumpass, Virginia
Yes, you did, Glenn. Mentioning
Lake Wobegon would’ve been a good ploy for gaining the
confidence of that girl’s mother (or grandmother). But
to the girl herself, it was weird, as if you’d whipped
out a ukelele and sang “Tip Toe Through The Tulips”
or bit off a big hunk of chaw and hollered “Hooooooo-eeeeee!”
A hip young dude like you isn’t supposed to be listening
to this show, Glenn. Shave your head and have a hole punched
in your tongue and practice glowering and see if that doesn’t
improve your love life.
Dear sir:
I recently read "Ernest Hemingway:
A Life Story" by Carlos Baker. He writes that in 1923,
Hemingway's wife, Hadley, gathered up nearly all of his unpublished
work to take to Switzerland where he was vacationing. Alas,
the valise housing his stories and carbons was stolen from a
Paris train station. Hadley was inconsolable. So was Hemingway.
I immediately thought of your memorable preface to "Lake
Wobegon Days," when several of your stories were lost on
a train trip. Were you aware of Hemingway's similar circumstances
at the time of your lost? Have you made any further attempts
to reconstruct the stories?
thanks,
--dave
Dave, I did reconstruct
them and they turned out to be nearly identical to Hemingway’s
“Islands In The River,” except in my version, the
guy catches a walleye, not a big blue marlin. Anyway, I wrote
it and it was good and it was honest and it made me feel good
and afterward I threw the story away. And that also felt good.
And then I had to hit a man who was trying to fish the story
out of the trash, and that felt good.
Dear Mr. Keillor,
Living abroad in Germany as an English teacher, I really dig
it when you sometimes sing a verse or two in a northern-European
tongue. I think we Americans ought to show more interest in
the importance of multilingualism, and for dozens of reasons
ranging from cultural to socio-political, down to just the right
thing to do.
David Seezen
David, I love to
sing in Danish, or German, especially when there are no Danes
or Germans around to hear it. There is great emotional freedom
in singing words that you yourself do not fully understand,
as opera singers have known for years. Most songs simply sound
better in other languages, especially if the lyrics run to things
like “The maidens are going to the woods to find birch
boughs for Mari’s wedding” which in Norwegian sounds
like Grieg and in English sounds like something your third-grade
teacher made the class sing out loud. But don’t be fooled.
I am as monolingual as anybody else. Singing in a foreign language
is just showing off for me.
dear mr keillor
I am a 21 year old college student hailing from Indiana. on
Saturday nights I drink cheap wine light candles and drift listening
to your voice. I am apathetic to nearly everything and often
lack the simple motivation to stand up and get another bottle
of wine. I have recently dropped my psychology major and am
seeking your guidance. I have no desire for a career but if
one is inevitable, I need the most leisurely lifestyle possible.
What should I do?
jeffrey
Jeffrey, you have
found a leisurely lifestyle and if it satisfies you, then you
should continue to pursue it. Don’t take up a career you
have no desire for. But try to avoid that second bottle of wine.
The dangers of drink have not been
exaggerated.
Garrison:
Do you watch television?
Victor Salas
Victor, I don’t
except on rare occasions, such as last Sunday when I sat with
my family like dogs in a burrow and watched the Minnesota Twins
beat Oakland 5-4 to go into the American League championship.
All the shows that people talk about parties, like “The
Sopranos” and “Sex And The City,” I’ve never
seen. Never saw “Seinfeld,” never saw “Friends”
or “E.R.” TV is a habit, like eating peanut-butter-and-banana
sandwiches, and it’s very enjoyable for awhile, and then
you sort of forget to do it anymore. It means I’m out of
touch with pop culture, but 60-year-old guys are not supposed
to be ---- it would embarrass our children if we were.
Dear Mr. Keillor-
You’ve had a number of great Midwest-themed songs on your
show over the years. Any plans to release a CD compilation of
these? It probably wouldn’t do so well with the never-been-West-of-the-Poconos
crowd. But surely it would do well with those who have lived
in or are from the Midwest. What say?
Matt
Matt, I’m not
a singer, I’m a writer. (I write fiction and one of my
fictions is that I’m a singer.) So there’s no need
for a CD from me. My reputation as a singer will grow after
I quit singing and the existence of a CD would only harm it.
Garrison,
It seems that every writer I read bios about has suffered from
depression. Is mental illness a prerequisite for being a good
writer?
Steve in Illinois
It’s not a prerequisite,
Steve, but writers may be more disposed to depression (and alcoholism)
than most people. There are plenty of books on the subject,
in addition to lightly fictionalized accounts by writers of
their own travails, and I’m afraid I have no light to shed
on the subject, since it’s not my experience. I had a little
bout with depression back around 1986 and got put on anti-depressants
and that took care of it and six months later I was off the
medications. No story there. I’m not smart enough to get
really messed up. I’m like Charlie Brown ---- I keep trying
to kick that football and I’m more
hopeful than ever that this time I’ll be successful.
Dear Mr. Keillor,
Our only daughter (only child) is off to college this year (Smith).
Do you have any advice on how to handle my wife as she deals
with this separation? My standard plan (just shut up) may not
be good enough.
Don Rumrill
No need to handle
anything, Don. This is one of those lovely dilemmas born of
good fortune ---- you love your daughter dearly, she’s
smart, she’s been accepted at a good school, she’s
leaving ---- and you do your weeping and go through the gloom
and loss, and then you rediscover each other and make a new
humorous life together and look forward to Christmas.
